Political quake in Spain as exit poll shows Podemos surging to 22pc

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez stated Mon.in that Rajoy’s Popular Party bash had 1st choice to try to form a authorities, still noted in that Spain was “entering a new political phase”.

The ruling party of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fell short of an absolute majority in elections Sunday that saw both major traditional parties lose ground and left it uncertain who would form the next government. The anti-austerity Podemos led by Pablo Iglesias won 69 seats while pro-business Ciudadanos led by Albert Rivera won 40.

For his part, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who leads a political party which came to power with a similar anti-austerity message, hailed the victory of Podemos.

Although the ruling right-of-centre Popular Party won the most votes, it failed to retain its parliamentary majority and will try to cobble together a coalition or minority government.

The Socialists’ deputy leader, Cesar Luena, declined to comment on what his party might do in a second round of voting, when an abstention from the group’s 90 lawmakers could be enough for Rajoy to get through.

Spain woke up with a political headache Monday after the incumbent conservatives won a weekend election but lost their absolute majority, tailed by the Socialists and far-left upstart party Podemos.

After of the financial crisis and a raft of corruption allegations against the establishment parties, Podemos and Ciudadanos emerged to challenge their hegemony.

In Spain, the fragmented vote heralded a new era of pact-making, shattering a two-party system that has dominated Spain since the 1970s and casting a pall over an economic reform programme that has helped pull the country out of recession. And among those parties would be two separatist groupings in the northeastern region of Catalonia that won a total of 17 seats in parliament.

Miguel Redondo, a 19-year-old Madrid university student, voted for Podemos because “it’s the party that best understands the difficulties that young people are going through”. The Socialists, however, are expected to form a mutual agreement with Podemos and Ciudadanos.

In past Spanish elections, the Popular Party and the main opposition Socialists were the established powerhouses and only needed support from tiny parties to get a majority in parliament when they didn’t win one from voters.

Reflecting the concerns of foreign investors, Markus Kerber, director-general of the BDI Federation of German Industries, urged Spain’s new government to “stay the course” on economic policy.

A Catholic nun holds her ballot before casting her vote in Spain’s general election in Ronda, southern Spain, Dec. 20, 2015.

Meantime, once the new parliament and senate begin sitting from January 13 onwards, it will be up to King Felipe VI to put forward a candidate for prime minister – giving a potentially important role to a man who was crowned only previous year.

But unemployment remains stubbornly high at more than 21 percent, and millions of Spaniards became fed up with austerity-sparked inequality as well as repeated corruption scandals – one of the contributing factors of the meteoric rise of Podemos.

If there is still deadlock after two months, the monarch calls a new election – probably in April or May.